Sunday, August 17, 2014

THANOS!!!

We interrupt this largely GI Joe-centric blog to briefly discuss the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Well, more importantly, one of my favorite characters from the Marvel Universe - THANOS!

When I first saw Thanos at the very end of The Avengers, I was definitely in nerd-heaven. I used to be a pretty big comic junkie back in the 80's. At some point, probably around 25+ years ago, I dramatically eased up on the buying of comics. For several years afterwards, I collected GI Joe comics, but my interest in the main super-hero genre comics faded. Currently, I must confess to having not bought a comic book, regardless of title, for around six years. I think the main reason was that we went through some tough financial times and my comic collecting got the ax. Honestly, I really didn't mind that much.

But after seeing Guardians just yesterday and getting thrilled by Thanos' brief appearance, I had to go dig out some old Marvel comics that related to Thanos. Who else better to write about Thanos than Jim Starlin? I don't know much about anything regarding the business of producing comics. I had favorite writers and artists, but only really followed just a few in particular throughout my comic-buying years. John Byrne, Mike Grell, Howard Chaykin, Larry Hama, Doug Moench, Mike Ploog, Micheal Golden, George Perez, Ross Andru, just so many come to mind. And of course, Jim Starlin. I don't know if he created Thanos, but he sure had the most influence in the character. The two primary characters that I can recall that seemed to be "children" of Jim Starlin are Thanos and Adam Warlock.

I had to dig out my limited collection of Jim Starlin's work. I am especially proud that I own a copy of "The death of Captain Marvel." This is one of the iconic pieces of comic history. The Avengers and Marvel Two-In-One issues are originals from way back in 1977. I had the Avengers issue first and only later found the conclusion of the story in Marvel Two-In-One.

I haven't read these comics in quite some time. These are Special Editions collecting Starlin's Adam Warlock stories. Very cool stuff. Adam Warlock was definitely not your average superhero.

Ah yes, Thanos! Such an amazing character! Dreams of galactic conquest always spoiled by his own personal demons.

Of these three "Infinity" series, "The Infinity Gauntlet" is by far the best. This event, or something like it, is brewing in the cinematic Marvel Universe and I'm excited to see how it's going to be pulled off!

It's been awhile since I've read either "The Infinity War" or "The Infinity Crusade." I'll dig back into them at some point; I'm just glad that I've got all of them together again.

I know that there has been much more in recent years involving Starlin's work with Thanos and Adam Warlock. I may have to fill in some missing elements of Thanos' history. Isn't there a Galactus vs. Thanos mini-series. Holy crap, I need to find it!

One can't talk about Jim Starlin and leave out an amazing series that was just phenomenal - "Metamorphosis Odyssey." A friend from high school was very much into that series and kept me up to date on it. My only piece of that story is the graphic novel "The Price" featuring Syzygy Darklock. This led to the Dreadstar comic series from Marvel's Epic line. Awesome, awesome stuff. I still proudly own that entire series - right up to Starlin's last issue. I couldn't stick with it after he left.

Thanks, Jim Starlin, for creating an amazing character with Thanos and I hope you get a thrill at seeing him on the big screen!